Chitosan derivatives/reduced graphene oxide/alginate beads for small-molecule drug delivery

This work reported chitosan derivatives (CSD)/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) blending with alginate to prepare hydrogel beads for small-molecule drug delivery for the first time. At the beginning, graphene oxide (GO) was successfully reduced using diverse CSD as reducing and stabilizing agents via facile heating. Then the obtained CSD/rGO was blended with alginate and crosslinked into hydrogel beads in CaCl 2 solution. Finally, the beads were systematically evaluated as novel vehicles for pH-responsive small-molecule drug delivery. The optimal CSD/rGO/alginate beads showed a high drug-loading efficiency of 82.8% on small-molecule fluorescein sodium (FL), outstanding sustainable release of 71.6% upon 150   h at a physiological pH and quick-release of 82.4% drug content at 20   h in an acidic medium. Additionally, the cytotoxicity assay result suggested that the CSD/rGO/alginate beads showed negligible cytotoxicity to hepatic stellate cell lines, opening up possibilities for safe and efficient drug delivery.